Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Talk about bad blood. Don't think there's much chance of seeing Dickey Betts with the Allmans ever again. Here's an excerpt from a new interview Butch Trucks did with Glide Magazine, regarding Dickey Betts:

Glide: How close was Dickey Betts to appearing with the band at the Beacon last year?

BT: Eh. It wasn’t going to happen.

Glide: But you did ask him and he turned you down?

BT: We asked him to. As a tribute to Duane we asked him to. Despite our differences – and as you know, our differences are very deep – we asked him to be part of it. There’s been a lot of name calling over the years, and to be honest with you, getting him out of the band was like getting an 800-pound gorilla off my back. The man has very serious issues and at times he has dealt with them. Other times he’d scream at us, as if in life he was supposed to get drunk and snort coke. We finally all said enough, and the last few years, without that dark cloud on stage night after night…well, we’ve got seven guys that respect each other. Every night is different and every night is fun.

Glide: How did he respond to your invitation?

BT: We asked him to come, because he was part of the band. We sent them an invitation, and at one point we actually heard from his manager there was a 50-50 chance of him joining us. But when push came to shove, he just decided not to. I can’t ever see a situation where we would even feel obligated to invite him again. It’s enough. That’s run its course. That’s not going to happen again.